House GOP holdouts threaten Trump’s ‘big, beautiful’ budget bill as Speaker Johnson postpones vote

WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite a shove from President Donald Trump, House Republicans abruptly postponed a vote late Wednesday on their budget framework, unable to convince conservative GOP holdouts who had raised grave misgivings over allowing trillions of dollars in tax breaks without deeper spending cuts.

Speaker Mike Johnson almost dared the Republican hardliners to defy Trump and risk upending what the president calls the “big, beautiful bill," which is central to his agenda of tax cuts, mass deportations and a smaller federal government. In the end, he had to hit pause, but vowed to try again Thursday.

“Don’t doubt us,” Johnson said after huddling for more than an hour off the chamber floor with GOP lawmakers. “Just give us a little space to do our work.”

Pushing the budget framework forward would log another milestone for Johnson, who had set a deadline of the congressional spring break recess Thursday for advancing the resolution. A failed vote, particularly as the economy was convulsing over Trump’s trade wars, would be a major setback for the Republican agenda in Washington.

“Stop grandstanding!” Trump had admonished Republicans during a black-tie fundraising dinner at the National Building Museum on Tuesday night.

Trump told the Republicans, “Close your eyes and get there.”

But by Wednesday afternoon, the outcome was in flux. At least a dozen conservative Republicans stood firmly against the plan. Several of them, including members of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus, made the unusual move of walking across the Capitol to meet privately with Senate GOP leaders to insist on deeper cuts.

As night fell, Johnson pulled a group of Republicans into a private meeting room as House proceedings came to a standstill. After an hour, further votes were postponed. And he went back in for more.

Johnson said he spoke with Trump for about five minutes while the GOP meeting was taking place. He said they're trying to figure out the minimal number of cuts and savings “that will satisfy everyone.”

Options include amending the Senate bill or having a conference committee work out the differences, among others. "There’s a few different ideas on the table,” Johnson said.

“We want everybody to have a high degree of comfort about what is happening here, and we have a small subset of members who weren’t totally satisfied with the product as it stands,” Johnson said.

But House GOP conservatives, including several of those who met personally with Trump at the White House this week, remained concerned that the Senate GOP's blueprint, approved last weekend, does not slash spending to the level they believe is necessary to help prevent soaring deficits.

“The Math Does Not Add Up,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, posted on social media. He said he would not support it.

Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., the chair of the Freedom Caucus, led others to met with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and other top Senate Republicans.

“All we can do is make sure that they understand where we’re coming from and how close we want to work with them to get to the to the final product,” Thune said afterward.

But the Senate GOP leader panned the idea of the House sending back an amended version, which would require another potential all-night voting session like the one senators endured last weekend. “We can’t do that — another vote-a-rama, that drags it on indefinitely,” Thune said.

At this stage, the House and Senate is still at the beginning phase of a process that will take weeks, if not months as they turn their budget resolutions into legislative text — a final product with more votes ahead later this spring or summer.

Democrats, in the minority, do not have enough votes to stop the package, but have warned against it.

Pennsylvania Rep. Brendan Boyle, the ranking Democrat on the budget committee, said the proposed GOP budget cuts in either the House or Senate version would deeply harm Medicaid, the health care program used by tens of millions of Americans.

“This will have a devastating impact on my district, my state — and all 435 congressional districts throughout our land,” Boyle said.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said the Republicans' budget plan is reckless and callous as it proposes slashing budgets to give tax breaks to the wealthy.

“We’re here to make it clear,” Jeffries said. “Hands off everyday Americans struggling to make ends meet.”

Central to the budget framework is the Republican effort to preserve the tax breaks approved in 2017, during Trump's first term, while potentially adding the new ones he promised on the campaign trail. That includes no taxes on tipped wages, Social Security income and others, ballooning the price tag to some $7 trillion over the decade.

The package also allows for budget increases with some $175 billion to pay for Trump's mass deportation operation and as much for the Defense Department to bolster military spending.

It all would be partly paid for with steep cuts to domestic programs, including health care, as part of the $2 trillion in reductions outlined in the House GOP version of the package, though several GOP senators have signaled they are not willing to go that far.

To clip costs, the Senate is using an unusual accounting method that does not count the costs of preserving the 2017 tax cuts, some $4.5 trillion, as new spending, another factor that is enraging the House conservatives.

Two Republican senators voted against their package during an overnight weekend session — Maine Sen. Susan Collins objected to steep cuts to Medicaid in the House's framework, while Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul argued the whole package relied on “fishy” math that would add to the debt.

The package would also boost the nation's debt limit to allow more borrowing to pay the bills. Trump had wanted lawmakers to take the politically difficult issue off the table. With debt now at $36 trillion, the Treasury Department has said it will run out of funds by August.

But the House and Senate need to resolve their differences on the debt limit, as well. The House GOP raises the debt limit by $4 trillion, but the Senate GOP boosted it to $5 trillion so Congress would not have to revisit the issue again until after the fall 2026 midterm election.

With Trump's trade wars hovering over the debate, House Republicans tucked a provision into a procedural vote that would prevent House action — as the Senate has taken — to disapprove of Trump’s tariffs.

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Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick, Stephen Groves, Leah Askarinam and Matt Brown contributed to this story.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., leaves the chamber after an essential procedural vote passed in the House to advance President Donald Trump's top domestic priorities on spending reductions and tax breaks, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters about his push for a House-Senate compromise budget resolution to advance President Donald Trump's agenda, even with opposition from hard-line conservative Republicans, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., the ranking member of the House Rules Committee, challenges Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, as President Donald Trump's top domestic priorities on spending reductions and tax breaks are prepared for a floor vote, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, listens as the Republican plan to advance President Donald Trump's top domestic priorities on spending reductions and tax breaks is prepared in the House Rules Committee for a floor vote, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. The deficit hawk has blasted the GOP plan drawing the ire of both Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, joined at right by Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., the ranking member, defends the Republican plan to advance President Donald Trump's top domestic priorities on spending reductions and tax breaks as the House Rules Committee prepares the measure for a floor vote, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — An Illinois landlord who murdered a 6-year-old Muslim boy and severely injured the boy’s mother in a vicious hate-crime attack days after the war in Gaza began was sentenced Friday to 53 years in prison.

Joseph Czuba, 73, was found guilty in February of murder, attempted murder and hate-crime charges in the death of Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of his mother, Hanan Shaheen.

Czuba targeted them in October 2023 because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas.

Evidence at trial included harrowing testimony from Shaheen and her frantic 911 call, along with bloody crime scene photos and police video. Jurors deliberated less than 90 minutes before handing in a verdict.

The family had been renting rooms in Czuba’s home in Plainfield, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) from Chicago when the attack happened.

Central to prosecutors' case was harrowing testimony from the boy’s mother, who said Czuba attacked her before moving on to her son, insisting they had to leave because they were Muslim. Prosecutors also played the 911 call and showed police footage. Czuba's wife, Mary, whom he has since divorced, also testified for the prosecution, saying he had become agitated about the Israel-Hamas war, which had erupted days earlier.

Police said Czuba pulled a knife from a holder on a belt and stabbed the boy 26 times, leaving the knife in the child's body. Some of the bloody crime scene photos were so explicit that the judge agreed to turn television screens showing them away from the audience, which included Wadee's relatives.

“He could not escape,” Michael Fitzgerald, a Will County assistant state’s attorney, told jurors at trial. “If it wasn’t enough that this defendant killed that little boy, he left the knife in the little boy’s body.”

The jury deliberated for 90 minutes before returning a verdict. Czuba is eligible for a minimum prison sentence of 20 to 60 years or life, according to the Will County state's attorney's office.

Prosecutors declined to comment ahead of Friday's hearing and have not said what sentence they will seek. Illinois does not have the death penalty.

The attack renewed fears of anti-Muslim discrimination and hit particularly hard in Plainfield and surrounding suburbs, which have a large and established Palestinian community. Wadee's funeral drew large crowds and Plainfield officials have dedicated a park playground in his honor.

Czuba did not speak during the trial. His defense attorneys argued that there were holes in the case. His public defender, George Lenard, has not addressed reporters and declined comment ahead of the sentencing.

Shaheen had more than a dozen stab wounds and it took her weeks to recover.

She said there were no prior issues in the two years she rented from the Czubas, even sharing a kitchen and a living room.

Then after the start of the war, Czuba told her that they had to move out because Muslims were not welcome. He later confronted Shaheen and attacked her, holding her down, stabbing her and trying to break her teeth.

“He told me ‘You, as a Muslim, must die,’” said Shaheen, who testified in English and Arabic though a translator.

Police testified that officers found Czuba outside the house, sitting on the ground with blood on his body and hands.

Separately, lawsuits have been filed over the boy’s death, including by his father, Odai Alfayoumi, who is divorced from Shaheen and was not living with them. The U.S. Department of Justice also launched a federal hate crimes investigation.

FILE - Wadee Alfayoumi's father, Oday Al Fayoume, seated right, and his uncle Mahmoud Yousef attend a vigil for Wadee at Prairie Activity and Recreation center in Plainfield, Ill., Oct. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

FILE - Joseph Czuba, 71, stands before Circuit Judge Dave Carlson for his arraignment at the Will County, Ill., courthouse, Oct. 30, 2023, in Joliet, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)